


Love, Live, Action

by xiewoo (xiearf)



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Idols, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-25 04:57:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13826949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xiearf/pseuds/xiewoo
Summary: In which Sunggyu and Woohyun forced into a fake relationship after the leak of their (rather) intimate photos. The company used the chance to promote Woohyun's group using Sunggyu's insane popularity. Sunggyu agreed, he's kind like that. But dealing with stubborn and hardheaded Woohyun was driving him crazy. Really, how could he carry on like this, if Woohyun kept being, well, Woohyun?





	1. Take 1

**Author's Note:**

> read early by half a month on AFF: [here](https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1323841)

 

**W O O H Y U N**

 

“Great. Today wouldn’t get any better. It is just absolutely, totally, great.”

Woohyun exclaimed as he sat down next to Sunggyu, who did not seem to be bothered at all by his presence. The older was busy with his smartphone and it appeared that he was not only ignoring Woohyun, but also the rest of the world. Huffing, Woohyun made a bold move of yanking away the white earphones and brought the other man back to the reality – definitely not an act a rookie would commit to their five-year senior.

“What the- ah, it’s you. What do you want? Give those back.”

“No, nope, nope. You are going to hear me out first.” Stated Woohyun, as if it was the most obvious and most practical thing to do at the moment. Sunggyu watched the younger male, his lips quirked disbelievingly but Woohyun did not give a damn. He had decided – Sunggyu was going to hear him lashing out his annoyance. “Hey, are you listening?”

“Excuse me but I am very busy saving my village from a massive attack by ogres.” Spoke the older, his attention was already back on his mobile phone. “You need to make another stop if you want to release your steam. Not here.” With that, Sunggyu snatched back his earphones and plugged them in again, shutting off everyone and Woohyun, especially Woohyun.

No longer than several seconds later, Woohyun tugged those earphones off again and this time, he kept them in his hands with no intention of giving them back until the owner agreed to listen to him. Sunggyu shot him a disbelief look, but he cut him before the older could say anything.

“I’m serious. You are going to listen to me. Or… or I am not giving _these_ back.”

“And why the bloody hell do I have to listen to you?” Sunggyu made a bored face. “I already have a pretty good idea why you are so worked up. Let me tell you one thing. Lashing your anger at me is pointless. It’s not going to stop the reporters from, well, reporting.” Woohyun made a ‘ _really now_ ’ face. What a lame attempt. “Anyway, we are looking at 13 hours of flight. I want a peaceful flight. God save my ears. Bless your voice. Now, shut up and leave me alone.”

“What do you mean pointless? It is not pointless.” He paused when Sunggyu returned the same ‘ _really now_ ’ face to him. “Well, it might be but at least, it’ll lessen my burden. Besides, you’re in this too. You’re the only one who’ll understand me. So, hear me out. I need you…”

“Oh, for God’s sake!” Sunggyu growled between his teeth. The other passengers were already giving them looks. “Go find someone else. I am busy.” The older snatched back his earphones and warned Woohyun with his small eyes to never ever try to steal them again. Woohyun pouted as he watched Sunggyu casually plugged his earphones on and ignored the rest of the world, as well as concluding their discussion.

Groaning, he admitted defeated. And now, Woohyun questioned his decision to plop down next to Sunggyu in this huge airplane (he made the older male’s manager to change seat with him) in hope he will hear him out. He also was questioning his reasons for having any hope at all. It was not as if he was in a close relationship with Sunggyu. Plus, the older male absolutely did not understand the position he was in because Sunggyu was so high above, he could not see the bottom anymore.

Kim Sunggyu, one of the most influential idol, singer and entertainer in their country. Being part of a duo called Double Bandit; they made a huge sensational hit right after their debut six years ago. Literally, everyone in the nation knew of Double Bandit, or Kim Sunggyu himself. Their popularity was insane and Sunggyu even made to the top five in the list of Nation’s Most Influential last year. He proved that being an idol did not mean to shake booty on stage only. It was so much more. Not only singing, Sunggyu excelled in everything he did. Emceeing, acting, musical, dancing – Sunggyu rocked everything flawlessly.

In fact, Woohyun hated to admit this, that even now at this very moment, Kim Sunggyu was still his role model. He was the reason why Woohyun started to attend auditions several years ago. Every time the man spoke on behalf of the duo at award ceremonies, he felt alive again, and the rejections from entertainment companies did not matter at all. He was going to work harder and will never give up until he gets what he was running for, his dream.

Three years ago, a company known as Woollim Entertainment accepted him. It was a small company, with less than twenty home artists but it was home. They placed him in a training group consist of five males. During the early days, there was no official name for their group yet nor that was it confirmed that every one of them was going to make it to the official debuting team. The management referred them as Woollim Boys.

After training for almost two years, the CEO gathered all three of Woollim Boys’ remaining members (two of the original members dropped out after several months of practice) and delivered the news that brought them into tears. Woohyun, Sungyeol and Myungsoo were going to debut in an idol group, together under the name _Treble_.

However, there was nothing easy in life. Even after the hardships they went through during their trainee period, there were still obstacles waiting for them.

Since the company was small, it could not afford high scale promotions for them. There were some events, but not enough to gather attention. The fire died down as fast as it lit. With debut song made as far as top twenty, the media concluded that ‘ _the Treble couldn’t reach the perfect pitch yet_.’ It hurt them in so many ways but it never held them back. Treble kept trying harder and harder, even harder. The three of them believed that one-day, life and the entertainment field would do them good, that their efforts would pay off.

Woollim’s CEO, Lee Jungyeop, counselled them to make connections with senior idols and entertainers. Not only could they sneak into the picture, they also could ask for useful advice. Thus, two weeks ago, all three of them were sent to attend a party, to celebrate Jun Hyosung’s birthday. She was the leader of a girl group named Secret, one of the leading girl groups at the time. A perfect opportunity; especially since a lot of other idols and entertainers were attending too.

All three of them were having a great time socialising, as far as he could remember. They were busy talking, introducing themselves and tightening up connections. Everything went well that night, or so Woohyun thought.

The moment he laid eyes on a figure that just walked into the room he felt his insides twisted into messy knots. It was Kim Sunggyu; the person he looked up to, the person who inspired him to chase after his dream and to never give up. It was _the_ Kim Sunggyu, in flesh and blood, in the same room with him and approaching his direction.

Woohyun held out his hand before the older could get by, introduced himself to him who happily stayed for several more glasses of cocktail to chat with him. They talked about lots of things that Woohyun had lost tracked of. He could be babbling nonsense for all he knows. He was too elated to care and Sunggyu seemed content to be in his company too.

The night was perfect, until he tripped on his feet as he was descending the front stairway and Sunggyu’s fast reflex caught him in time, stopping him from kissing the floor. Could be the cocktails that made Sunggyu reached out and brush his bangs aside, then ran his thumb softly tracing his cheek. Woohyun himself might had a fair share of alcohol in system too because he leaned in willingly, closed his eyes and hummed contently at the touch.

Right on the next day, photos of them in front of the building were all over the news and social media. For the first time in one year after debut, Woohyun’s name was trending on search engines and SNS. Their fan cafe received more hit in one day than it had ever since debut. Honestly, Woohyun had no idea that anyone was there to capture their ‘ _moments_ ’ the night before (or maybe he was simply too wasted to care about it at that time). The news was getting out of hands and not-surprisingly, an hour before lunchtime the CEO summoned him to his office.

He was anticipating some scolding but all he got were worried sighs and a pat on his back. Jungyeop assured him that the company will take care of everything and he should get some more rest. He did just that.

Two days later, he was summoned again, this time by their Managing Director, Joon Beomsu. It was way more unpleasant compared to his meeting with the CEO himself. Mr Joon told him about a plan, _the plan_ to walk out of this scandal in the best way possible – for both the company and Treble. It involved Woohyun and Sunggyu, and some public romantic appearances.

The genius plan was Nam Woohyun getting into a fake public relationship with Kim Sunggyu.

Mr Joon informed him that Sunggyu’s company, the DRM Entertainment, already agreed with the plan. Surprisingly, Sunggyu too. Both of the companies will be making statements in an hour’s time and Woohyun should get ready to do his too. Mr Joon laid him the details of the plan, consisted of what he should and should not do. Apparently, he had to memorize everything and make sure to carry out whatever they put in the to-do-list. It was already a complete arrangement. Woohyun marvelled at how fast these people worked.

Of course, he had no say in it. Mr Joon was not asking for favour. It was an order and Woohyun was obliged to carry it out.

After an hour, as scheduled, he made a not-so direct Twitter post addressing the recently released statement – a post about him being grateful that they finally able to date publicly and him asking for the fans’ support. His phone almost exploded from incoming notifications, both retweets and replies. Never once he had ever received this much reaction. Woohyun made a pick and read some of the replies. He instantly regretted his decision when he came across several untamed fan arts of him and Sunggyu, the not safe for work stuffs. It never ceased to amaze him how imaginative and creative the fans could be (or how fast idol pairings gathered ‘ _shippers,_ ’ as claimed).

He noticed later that Sunggyu also tweeted something alike (he followed him on SNS, surprise, surprise) and realized that he was not the only one who was placed into this position of, well, acting. Apparently, Sunggyu also received a to-do-list.

In the context of gathering more attention on Treble, the management definitely made a right choice. It was indeed the best way to walk out of scandal that benefit both the company and the group. In just a few days, they were bombarded with phone calls and proposals, all asking them to guest in variety and talk shows. Treble’s schedule suddenly packed.

However, in the context of his feeling, not really – not that he expected anyone in the higher-ups cared about how he felt.

Unlike Sunggyu who received five stars treatment from the media, with every news related to him were all sugar coated, Woohyun’s were full of insensitive remarks. Just yesterday, Naver published an article comparing his achievement and vocal skills to Sunggyu. How was it fair to compare someone who had been in the industry for goddamn six years with him, who debuted just a year ago?

He did not need the media to know how horribly unmatched he was to Sunggyu.

He did not need the media to know that the only thing he could do was sing and still, he was horrible at it.

His manager, Lee Jungwook told him to just ignore the bad comments and just focus on what was waiting for his group, because it was as if they were given a second chance from this fake relationship. They were going to start over and to show the nation how amazing and talented Treble actually was, and that the people had made a huge mistake for sleeping on Treble the past year.

Well, that was easy coming from Jungwook, but in reality, only one question from a reporter thrown Woohyun off the edge.

Earlier at the airport was Treble’s first public appearance after the scandal broke out. The media were on hype on getting best view and best response from both parties – Woohyun and Sunggyu. They went too far, especially with this particular question that shot Woohyun right into his heart: ‘ _how high do you think you can reach with Sunggyu as your stepping stone?_ ’

Woohyun was so close to commit an unforgivable sin, murder. He even thought of what would he tell his mom when she came to visit him in prison, for him being jailed for life. Thankfully, Jungwook got him before he could jump on the reporter. The older held him tighter and led him into the building, safe from all the madness and rudeness.

That was half an hour ago and now, here he was, sitting beside Sunggyu for a thirteen hours flight from Seoul to Mexico. He thought he could share the burden, and harbour complaints to the older male, and that Sunggyu will hear him out like a good senior idol he was. But he forgot that Sunggyu was so high above and he was too small, still at the very bottom. Sunggyu could not see him.

That friendly talk they had during the night of the birthday party must have been because of the alcohol. This Sunggyu right here was far from kind or friendly. The Sunggyu from the party would listen, give him advice and encouraging words. That was the Sunggyu he looked up to, the one who was his role mode, the one who inspired him to chase after his dream.

Not this Sunggyu.

 

Mexico City was beautiful, way beyond words, definitely different from how it was in Seoul. The building, the scenery, the people… it felt so foreign yet fascinating.

Despite that, Woohyun thought it was meaningless if he was to spend the upcoming days in Mexico City staring out from the full-height windows of his hotel room instead of strolling down the streets and sightseeing. He questioned his company’s decision of extending their stay for another two days but forbade them to leave the building. Why not let them return instead. At least he can visit the twenty-four hours convenience store across the road from his dorm in South Korea.

That was when he caught the door opened from the outside, came Lee Sungyeol strolling into the room. The guy was tall, six feet, and he loomed over everyone. He was the rapper of the group. Whenever they stood together, their fans just could not stop comparing their heights, which annoyed him to no end. He was just several of inches shorter without his insoles, big deal.

“Jungwook hyung is frantic. Why are you not answering your phone? And why did you not eat? When was the last time you had anything proper?”

How he had not seen this coming, Woohyun thought sarcastically, keeping it inside his head. His phone was on silent and he had been staring out of the windows for almost an hour now, lost in his own world. He felt less alive that whole day, much lesser having any desire to eat. “Lunch, yesterday, I think. I don’t remember…”

“Should I go to details, whether you eat at least one banana before going on stage last night?” Woohyun shrugged, for sure fuelling the anger within the other man. Sungyeol sauntered over and stood beside him, leaning against the window with his arms neatly folded at his front. He was frowning, at him. “You’re lucky you did not pass out. For God’s sake, we danced to five songs last night.”

“When we were trainee, we danced for the whole day with just some salads to go on… and I am fine. Can’t you see? Alive, living, and breathing.” He spread his arms, as if it was enough to prove how healthy and fine he was to the younger man.

“Oh, hyung, please.” The rapper sighed, though he was still on with the glares. Woohyun stood aback. An angry Sungyeol could escalate to a horrifying Sungyeol. Even though he was the eldest of the trio, the other two kids could be very intimidating at times. Especially Sungyeol. The tall rapper was the aggressive type. “You, and us have gotten enough the attention to last this whole lifetime. Let’s not add another headline of you being admitted to hospital, okay.”

Woohyun tried an advance, a last shot to get out of this conversation, which was to act cute. It did not usually work, especially with Sungyeol but everything worth a try. Therefore, Woohyun jutted his lips out, pouting to gain some sympathy. Nevertheless, of course, Sungyeol would not bother with his effort. Nothing out of the ordinary. He groaned.

“It’s not like I don’t want to eat, okay. I just…” He paused, looking for the right word. The other man was giving him a bored look. “The food here tastes weird. I could not take them, and you guys did not let me bring instant noodles.”

“What a bunch of excuses. The food you called weird is Mexican delicacies. Now that we are here, we should give them a try. That is what people do when they travel. Haven’”

Sungyeol pressed on the last part, fingers raking through his light brown hair, clearly frustrated. Woohyun wondered why the younger bothered to talk him into this when he obviously knew it would annoy him anyway. Oh, right. Jungwook must have made him do this.

“It’s not my fault that I am being picky with food. You know how my stomach is. It is sensitive.”

One of the comments he often received from his friends and acquaintances was that he was very picky with his food. He could not take spicy and oily food, food with strong seasoning and food that tasted or looked different from what he had been having for the past twenty-one years of his life. Obviously, Mexican food was foreign to his taste buds and he did not intend to try them at all, worried he might end up puking them out.

Sungyeol seemed like he was about to reply but stopped by knocks on their hotel door. They exchanged looks before the younger groaned loudly and stormed to check their guest. Woohyun exhaled a relieved sigh and thanked whoever it was behind the door. He trudged lazily to his bed and laid on it before turning on the telly. He rushed through the channels but there was nothing interesting. ‘ _Boring_ ,’ he thought. Maybe he should just sleep.

“Hyung, go get ready. Your boyfriend is here to take you out.” Shouted Sungyeol from the doorway, followed by muffled conversations and laughter.

“Tell him no. I am lazy. And I’m not eating until we’re in Korea again.” He shouted back, burying the back of his head deeper into the pillow, intending to drift into dreamland. That was, until it clicked and he managed to decipher what the rapper just said. “Wait, what?” Woohyun half screamed. He rushed to the door, to check on the ‘ _boyfriend’_ person Sungyeol claimed, even though he already had an idea who that he could be. The question was why would _that_ _person_ come here to get him? “Uh, w-what are you doing here?”

Sungyeol pushed down the accusatory finger he pointed at their senior, whispered between his gritted teeth that it was rude to do that. He was not in the mood to care about that, not now (or ever).

“To take you out for lunch, of course. What else could I be doing here?”

“And why would you do that?”

Sunggyu snorted through his forced smile. “Because Jungwook hyung asked me a favour. Well, your Managing Director did too. He took the liberty of bombarding my cell with calls since dawn. Apparently, he will not drop it until I actually take you out and do some fan services. I can’t actually say no to them, can I?”

Woohyun snickered at Sunggyu’s sarcastic tone. Why did he even idolise this person? Kim Sunggyu was a complete jerk.

But now that Sunggyu mentioned it, he did remember Mr Joon’s last word before he left the company building two days ago. ‘ _Sunggyu and you need to make a lot of public appearances in Mexico City_ ,’ was what he said. Part of him thought it was just an empty talk. Besides, Woohyun was not going to do that. It was not like Mr Joon was there to monitor him. He did not expect that Mr Joon would personally reach out to Sunggyu.

That explained the extra two days off…

“This is ridiculous.”

“Tell that to Mr Joon once you’re in Seoul. For now, go put some BB cream on. I am starving.”

 

A while later, Woohyun found his pouting self in a diner, sitting right across Kim Sunggyu. His hands were gripping the menu so hard, frowning and glaring at the words as if they had done him wrong. On the other side, the older male seemed to be oblivious of the cold war he declared because the man was flipping the pages oh-so casually. Either that, or Sunggyu really did not care. He was so calm and acting as if he had been doing this for years – this, taking someone out for lunch with a bunch of reporters snapping photos of them just outside the window, several meters away.

The restaurant’s owner (or manager, whoever that person was) did a huge favour to the media and fans by giving them table by the window, a full-length one where people outside could basically see everything inside. It was too much. How do they expect him to eat in this situation? Their every movement were frigging recorded.

“If you keep on making that face, they’re going to think that we had a fight last night and now I am taking you out to to make it up to you.” Woohyun blinked dumbly when Sunggyu suddenly spoken, his frown vanished and replaced with questioning look. He had no idea if the man had spoken anything before that because ten seconds ago, he was not on Earth. He was not listening. “Choose something already. You’re taking too long.”

Woohyun glanced at the waiter, who seemed tired of waiting already, no pun intended. He ran his finger through the lines, checking the dishes names that he absolutely had no idea how to pronounce. “Can you order for me? I don’t even know what these dish names mean. How to choose? They should put more pictures.”

The older just nodded nonchalantly and ordered two of the main dish he chose, something else for the side and two glasses of drink that Woohyun guessed to be watermelon juice. He was amazed to watch how the man communicated with the waiter, using foreign language and all. He did not sound awkward at all. That must be because he went to overseas a lot and somehow picked up their languages along the way.

“I heard you have a habit of skipping meals.”

“I think you heard a lot.”

“True. I also heard that you are somewhat hard-headed and stubborn with very thin patience. Guess maybe what I heard are all spot-on then.”

Woohyun rolled his eyes. “We are here for lunch or for you to judge me?”

“Geez, calm down. I was just saying.” He watched him shrugged. If Woohyun had a habit of skipping meals, then Sunggyu had a habit of shrugging. It was part of his communication skill. Half of his sentences were shrugs. “I am wondering, where the polite and down-to-Earth Nam Woohyun from Hyosung’s birthday party had gone to. Was it all alcohol or he got buried within the press mobs?”

“Why are we even talking? I know Jungwook hyung made you take me out but that does not mean we have to pretend that we are a happy couple.” He kept his voice down, trying his best not to sound too rude despite his words and intention. They were in public and Sunggyu was still his senior. “You don’t even like me that much to start with.”

“Why, you ask me. Haven’t you notice that we have people watching us? People with cameras. They think we are on a date and normally people _talk_ on dates, Mr Nam. I understand if you want to stay cold with me. It is totally okay because I too have no intention of warming up but remember, we are doing this for the sake of you and your group. The least you could do is put in some effort and act it out properly.”

Sunggyu was right. It was all for him and Treble. True, he did not ask for all of this but he himself could see the impact this fake relationship had on his group’s reputation and popularity. Now people knew their name. They knew that Treble existed in the entertainment industry. Good or bad popularity, it was still popularity and that was what mattered.

He should take a little responsibility too.

Food arrived five minutes later, after a small conversation Sunggyu initiated regarding their upcoming schedule once they done with Mexico City. It turned out that the older man would not be returning to Seoul right away. He and his band mate were going to Hong Kong for a meet-and-greet session with fans. It surprised him because he never heard of it before (of course, Woohyun tried to keep updated with his role model’s schedule). Must be nice to be popular and well-known across the globe.

Woohyun’s eyes fall on the plate in front of him. It was fish taco, identical to Sunggyu. But the side dish that the waiter placed in between their plates contained something he never saw before. Frowning, feeling very curious, he brought a fork up and poked on one of the rolls (there were four of them!). However, that kind of investigation did not result a clear answer. His ears perked up when he caught some chuckles.

When he pulled back, he saw Sunggyu took a spoon and moved one roll onto his plate.

“That, my dear, is called Cheese Enchiladas.” He tried to pronounce the last word after him. Obviously, he was not quite there yet. “You’re frowning. Stop it. I know it sounds weird in our language but I will not order it if it tasted weird.” Coughing a little, Woohyun shook his head as well as the frown on his forehead. That made the older male chuckling again, and he wondered what was so funny. “From what I know, it has shredded cabbage, some tomatoes and maybe some chicken meat wrapped in white corn tortillas, with cotija cheese, sour cream and cheddar cheese on top. Does not sound so weird now, right? Open up.”

“B-but I…” Woohyun glanced at his side. There were at least five cameras pointing at them, recording their every move. Sunggyu quirked an eyebrow as he waited for him to open his mouth. The spoon was hanging in the air, a strip of cheese threatening to drip down. There was no way he could reject the man’s offer to feed him in front of running cameras.

With one hand pinching his thigh secretly under the table, an attempt to stop himself from blushing, Woohyun slowly parted his lips to take a mouthful of Cheese Enchiladas from Sunggyu’s spoon.

Woohyun closed his eyes and hummed in appreciation. He was not acting. The dish was _that_ good. He felt as if the world stopped as he savoured what left in his mouth, as dramatic as that sounded. The moment he opened his eyes again, he saw Sunggyu smirking at him. Woohyun was too into the food to care about the details. All he cared about now was that this Cheese-something was so good and he had to have more.

“Oh, my god, hyung. It is so delicious. How come I never heard of it before?”

“Oh, so now you call me hyung…” God, that smirk was so annoying.

“I’ll call you whatever.”

 


	2. Take 2

 

**W O O H Y U N**

 

Staying up did not seem to be a good idea mostly because Sunggyu had nothing to do. His phone died on him just five minutes ago. Playing too much game exhausted his phone’s battery. It ran out quickly but took a long time to charge. He dared not to use it when it plugged on. His phone would heat up and he worried it might explode so Sunggyu avoid using it until the battery was full again.

Since it past midnight, there were only several channels still running on television. The hotel did not provide a wide channel selection to start with anyway. Only the basics, it seemed. He browsed lazily through what left.

Business talk show – nope.

Local weather forecast – nope.

Formula One rerun – nope.

Random episode from local romantic series – Sunggyu’s finger hovered over the buttons before he shrugged and put the remote down. It just started. The opening credit was on the run accompanied by soft melodic background song. He marvelled at the gorgeous female lead. Her hair was wavy blond, length down to her waist. Beautiful eyelashes complimented her greenish blue eyes. Her body proportion was on point, Miss Universe worthy type of body. (She probably was, a _Miss-Somewhere_ for all he knew.) From the female lead alone, Sunggyu decided to settle down and watch the show despite his almost zero understanding regarding what the actors were talking about.

After several visits to Mexico City for annual music festival, Sunggyu slowly learned the basic phrases. By basic meant very basic. He could initiate and respond to greetings and simple common conversations, or read dish names on menu book (cause let’s face it, Sunggyu loved to eat so much so knowing his food was important). To watch and understand at the same time was totally a different case. Besides, they spoke fast on television, just the normal way any native conversing with another native. Sunggyu tried to follow the episode by guessing what the scene was all about from only the acting.

That was not actually a hard thing to do. The drama had cliché plots. He could already foresee what was going to happen in the upcoming five episodes. It was one of the ‘ _boy meet girl and fight and fall in love and fight and make up and the end_ ’ kind of story… very much cliché.

Sunggyu was not really into watching dramas or movies, mostly because he did not have the time to do that. Back in Korea, in between schedules, the only broadcasts he watched were the shows he guested or hosted and the movies he starred, for monitoring purposes. There were times where he felt like spending the day off watching television but more often than not did he fall asleep midway. But that did not mean he disliked cliché stuffs. Cliché was nice, he thought, especially cliché romance. There were some things that even though they were highly predictable, he still found them fluttering and somewhat heart-warming to watch.

To be completely honest, there were times where Sunggyu would sit down and think how it would be if his life turned out to be one of the cliché romantic movies. He also sometimes played ‘ _let’s imagine’_ and created several different situations in his head, all circled around his almost non-existent love life. There were times too when he compared what happened in his life to random scenes from movies he watched, then smacked at the back of his head for being silly.

Not that he actually stopped doing that. In fact, he did that quite a lot especially when he was going to bed. He told himself bedtime stories, as lonely as that sounds. There was no one else around to do that for him. Plus, creating stories in his head was way less exhausting than hauling up books.

As far as he could remember, Sunggyu had never met anyone in awkward situations. Everything happened in his life was somewhat normal for someone of his status. His social life was a bit restricted until a couple of years ago. He had no childhood friend with possible non-platonic attraction toward him either – or the other way around. He had crush on someone but he knew it was, and will always be one sided so that did not count. Besides, it would wash out with time.

‘ _Hmm…_ ’ Now that he thought about it, there was someone who suddenly popped into his life and made a huge havoc out of it. But he was pretty sure that someone was definitely not the one he would like jump into a real life romance drama with. Just recently, a certain Nam Woohyun barged into his life and brought along a whole truck of mess with him. Together, they got caught up in a dating scandal. His company made him agree to play along.

Actually, they gave him choices – and he chose to help.

Treble was one of the rookie groups that caught his attention. Their synchronization was perfect, the songs were addicting and the members were a bunch of talented handsome boys – but the promotion scale was too small and ineffective. They were not properly introduced to the people. He was once a rookie too, and once a trainee and he completely understood how hard and how sad it was to be ignored like that, despite the hard work and passion. This fake relationship deal was a good opportunity to give the boys what they deserved, and Sunggyu was all in for that. He would help his juniors with what he could, even if the junior were being a brat to him. A little too stubborn and too hard-headed to his liking.

He did not really mind that actually, since it was not like he had to see Woohyun every day. As long as their schedule did not clash, he could carry on with his daily life with occasional not so direct tweets regarding his newly established love life and pretend that Woohyun did not exist. Besides, he was not onto something big at the moment. Other than his schedule, there was nothing remarkable in his daily life. The fake relationship was rather a decent instalment into his dull, boring, repetitive days.

(Besides, there would be no other safe escape for him either. The photo leak definitely had tainted the clean image he worked hard to keep the past years. If they did not label him as some sort of playboy, the public would think he got caught up with the fame and used it to get what he wanted – in this case, a young rookie’s ass. DRM Entertainment did not force him into anything and promised him that they would think of a way out, which Sunggyu knew better that there was none.)

All in all, he agreed.

The clock showed two in the morning when the episode ended. Sunggyu was yawning so much he started to shed tears. His brain screamed for sleep whereas his heart told him to stay, because Dongwoo was still outside. He decided on the latter.

Dongwoo was the other half of the Double Bandit act. As Sunggyu worked on the high notes and vocals, Dongwoo took charge of rap and dance. With their skills, the perfect catchy song and mind-blowing choreography combined, they swept first places on every music chart right after debut. Not enough with singing, Sunggyu made a turn into acting path while Dongwoo joined the emceeing world. Barely two years later, they basically took over the entertainment field.

Unlike lunch, Sunggyu had his dinner with Dongwoo. However, Dongwoo told him to go ahead and return to hotel after they done with dinner while the other man said he was going to hit the road. Sunggyu was uneasy as soon as he heard him, but before he could say anything, Dongwoo was already lost within the crowd of people. His phone was off so he had no idea of his friend’s whereabouts since they parted five hours ago.

Mexico City was a huge and foreign place to them. Even with a clear mind, Dongwoo usually had hard time to find his way back to his apartment that he lived in for years. Sunggyu was worried, dead worried but all he managed was to sit and wait. His manager scolded him for letting Dongwoo go by himself, but they both knew no one could stop Dongwoo from going anyway.

Dongwoo was going through a hard phase. His long-time boyfriend left the company and him two months ago. Still in process of recovering, drinking and sleeping around were his best solution to this matter. ‘ _It’s my way of holding on, or I’ll be off jumping the roof long ago_. _You don’t want that, do you?_ ’ That was all Dongwoo said whenever they brought up the topic. That was why they preferred to keep their mouth shut and let Dongwoo be.

Sunggyu crossed his fingers and prayed that Dongwoo will be all right. He hoped he will not get too drunk and pick up fights (it happened once before and their company had a hard time to cover up the story, and to persuade the other party to keep quiet). He wished he would come back soon. It was making him restless.

Checking the clock again, Sunggyu made a mental note to dial 911 if Dongwoo was still out by three. He was going to file for a missing person. That was, thank god, when the door finally clicked open from the outside and revealed Dongwoo, still in one piece, with no bruise and whatsoever. He was safe! Sunggyu jolted up, attempting to rush over and have a proper check up on the other male, but Dongwoo waved him down and walked over instead.

“Where have you been, really?”

Dongwoo shrugged and left his question hanging. He slumped down beside Sunggyu with a heavy sigh. His shirt reeked of smell, but none of it smelled like alcohol. Not to mention, Dongwoo looked awfully sober (a drunk Dongwoo would not be able to keep it quiet even for a second, he would ramble, laugh, and repeat). It still worried Sunggyu though. The older frowned as he scanned every one of his friend’s movement. Dongwoo shifted uncomfortably under his gaze but did not complaint.

“Apparently…” Dongwoo began, after a long silence and lots of shifting. “He is in town too. I heard that he is the main choreographer in his new company, and is working on dance routines for this rookie group. They’re here to film for their music video in Mexico City.”

Sunggyu did not question who he meant by ‘ _he_ ’ because he knew. He knew a lot more than just that. So he reached out quietly for the man’s shoulders and pulled him onto his chest, side hugging him. Dongwoo leaned in without words, resting against the support and warmth provided.

Moments and moments passed in silence, no one said anything. More and more questions bombarded his head. Same ones, but repeatedly, banging his head: ‘ _who told you he’s here?_ ’, ‘ _did you meet him?_ ”, ‘ _where did you go?_ ’, ‘ _what happened when you were out?_ ’, ‘ _are you okay?_ ’, ‘ _why are you not crying?_ ’

None came out from his mouth though. Dongwoo needed time; he’ll give him just that. If Dongwoo wanted to talk, he will sit down with him, for hours, for days and talk. They always had each other’s back. It was Dongwoo’s downturn now. It could be his turn next. He believed that when that time came, Dongwoo would do just the same for him.

During the early days of their acquaintanceship, Sunggyu spent his days getting annoyed at Dongwoo. The man had no sense of personal space at all. He touched what he wanted, including Sunggyu’s precious buttocks, whenever he wanted. As the eldest between them, he sat him down for several talks regarding the issue but none seemed to work out. He gave up and let Dongwoo be. By now, almost eight years later, he had grown used of the excessive touches. That, weirdly, somehow brought them as close as they were now.

However, the recent break up drew a small distance between them. Dongwoo took both time and space, avoided human contact as much as he could. Sometimes he came out from his cave to find Sunggyu and they would cuddle like this. Sometimes, when he did not, Sunggyu just let him be.

Their CEO made a point that they should be thankful it happened during their hiatus time and not during a promotion period, or their fans would notice that the normal cheery Jang Dongwoo was nowhere to be found. It definitely will lead into an uproar and endless demands of official explanation from the company. That could lead to a huge mess. As much as Sunggyu wanted to punch his CEO for saying something horrible and insensitive like that, he could not deny that the man was right.

Unlike Sunggyu’s made up romance episode, Dongwoo’s relationship was made private. Besides Sunggyu, only Double Bandit’s manager, DRM Entertainment’s CEO and several more high personnel in the company knew about it. For a long time, Sunggyu noticed how uncommitted Dongwoo’s boyfriend was with their relationship but decided to keep it in for his friend’s sake. His friend was happy and he should be happy too instead of having doubts.

Now, he regretted it. He should have said something. He should have _done_ something. It was too late now.

“You’re okay, buddy?” He asked after a while, when the comfort starting to suffocate him. Dongwoo was being too comfortable in his arms; his whole body weight leaned onto Sunggyu. Despite his smaller frame, Dongwoo was chubbier and heavier. He had big bones. He was practically crushing him.

Dongwoo let the question float in the air for another minute and tilted his head up, staring at Sunggyu in the eyes. “Is it okay not to be okay?”

There was absolutely nothing funny about the question nor the situation but soon both of them were laughing like idiots for no explainable reason. Sunggyu made a mess of the younger man’s hair, ruffling the newly dyed blue hair and pulled away from the hug. He laughed some more when his ears caught the man whining from losing the warmth. (But thank god he could finally breath properly again.)

“Listen. I heard this hotel’s room service is 24 hours. How about we order some ice cream, chips with cheese, coke – all those no-no stuffs for our diet and watch Twilight on Netflix?”

Dongwoo grimaced at the last part, though his eyes practically shone out the hotel lights at the mention of ice cream earlier. “Can’t we watch something that is better than Twilight, hyung? Like, Arrow maybe.”

Sunggyu grimaced back, complete with groans. “Arrow is just as horrible. But, tonight is your night. Anything you say, Your Highness. You hit the phone. I’ll setup my laptop.”

 

Instead of alarm, it was his phone’s ringtone that woken him up the next morning, shooting his annoyance high through the roof. Normally, on a day off morning, Sunggyu would put his phone on silent mode so no one could disturb his lovely peaceful sleep, especially those insensitive people from his company. His manager included. He wanted to sleep as much as he could and wake up late. A day off meant for rest.

However, last night, he fell asleep in the middle of watching the second episode of Arrow Season Five. He forgot to slide down the small button on top left of his iPhone, forgot to mute it. The consequence was now his ringtone blared out of its speakers, cruelly dragging him out of the dreamland.

Dongwoo, on the other hand, was still deep in sleep. He did not seem bothered at all. The man could sleep through a firework festival, even when it explodes right beside his ears. He did not snore in his sleep, talk, or move (sometimes Sunggyu wondered if he even breathed). He literally slept like a log.

Logs were heavy. Well, Dongwoo too.

They were still huddled together on the same sofa from last night, squished to fit in because obviously, it was not made to fit two grown up adult men. Half of his friend’s weight was on him, arms tight around him and clung onto him like a (very heavy) baby koala. It was such a hard work to move even an inch and Dongwoo did not even budge despite the amount of force Sunggyu put on. He tried to wake him up but to no avail, the younger only snuggled closer to his chest, constricting his lungs even more.

Groaning, Sunggyu did the inevitable, because his phone was getting annoying and whoever it was on the other side of the line was very persistent. The person did not seem like they would give up unless Sunggyu answered. Several twists and pushing later, Sunggyu was free from the extra limbs and Dongwoo was on the floor, still deep in sleep. He rolled his eyes at the peaceful looking sleeping face, a little jealous, and grabbed his phone on coffee table.

“Mr Joon.” Sunggyu groaned at the sight of caller ID. “Of course, who else could it be?” The man had been calling him so much the past week. One would think he was in relationship with the Managing Director instead of Woohyun, from the amount of calls and texts exchanged between them. He shivered at the thought and slid to answer. He mumbled a ‘ _hello_ ’ into the phone, trying his best to sound polite while in reality, he wanted nothing more than to pour the man a bucket full of colourful curses.

“Hello to you too, and I hope you’re having a wonderful morning.” He sounded like a broken recorder machine. Bet he said it to everyone whom he ripped away their beautiful sleep from. “Jungwook informed me that there’re couple of reporters camped in front of your hotel since last night and several more joined them in the past hour. So…” He rolled his eyes when the older man dragged the word, already knew what was coming. This felt like a déjà vu. “I would like to ask you to take Woohyun out for breakfast, outside of the hotel, preferably.”

They had an almost similar conversation on the day before too but it was several hours later than today. Actually, he started calling Sunggyu since dawn but his phone was on mute so he did not notice until he woke up and wanted to check his Twitter. There were at least 13 miscalls. Mr Joon used the same excuse to push him into doing him the favour. He was about to _politely_ decline when Jungwook walked into his room, and asked for the same thing. Sunggyu could not find it in him to say no then.

Sunggyu first met Jungwook when joined DRM Entertainment as a new trainee. The older male was a junior manager back then. Jungwook was only two years older so they grew close almost instantly, closer than Sunggyu was to Dongwoo even. Sunggyu found it comfortable to be around Jungwook since the older was the quiet type. He listened attentively to every one of Sunggyu’s complaints. When he done ranting, Jungwook would offer him shoulders for Sunggyu to rest on. Sunggyu loved to be with Jungwook.

Alcohol drove them into their first kiss. It was innocent. It was Sunggyu’s first.

Jungwook asked Sunggyu out officially several days later but sadly, their relationship only lasted three months. They parted on a good term. Despite the affections toward each other, both of them knew they suited better as friends. Therefore, only friends they became. Jungwook handed in resignation later several weeks before Double Bandit’s debut but they still kept in touch. Sometimes they would meet up and drink. No more kisses. Only ranting and complaining about life.

Even until now, Sunggyu still had a soft spot for the man. Some things did not change.

“With all due respect, Mr Joon,” He sighed and slumped more onto the sofa, massaging his temples. “I think we made enough public appearances yesterday. Don’t you think it will be too obvious if we pushed on it too much? I don’t recall other _real_ celebrity couples show off this much.”

Sunggyu was not a morning person. For being rudely woken up just ten minutes ago, he was surprised that he still could maintain being on the line with this pushy Mr Joon without turning into an exploding volcano. But, he could not guarantee how long this rational side of him could remain. Mr Joon seemed to have a very special talent to annoy people.

“And I think you have a pointless concern, Mr Kim. There’s no such thing as too much. The public loves it, even the fans in Mexico City. Isn’t that amazing? Besides, the press loves seeing the two of you, together. As entertainers, it is part of the job to keep public and press satisfied. It is basically in the job’s description.”

“I know, but that does not mean…”

“Hush now, Mr Kim.” He could imagine the annoying smile on the annoying man’s face. A smile that curled because he knew for sure he was going to win this argument. It must have been why he became the Managing Director. He was so good at ‘ _managing_ ’ people. “Just treat this as a honeymoon trip. Have fun and fame ensues.”

“I don’t know if I’ll want paparazzi or fan sites trailing my ass when I go for a honeymoon trip, Mr Joon, not that I want to go for honeymoon trip with Nam Woohyun.” He cringed at the thought. He and Woohyun? Honeymoon trip? Honeymoon? Oh, Lord, no. Please, no.

“I said, treat it _as if_ it is a honeymoon trip. And I absolutely am not sending my idol to a honeymoon trip. Yucks! Besides, Treble still has some ‘ _rookie_ ’ bans they have to follow.” The older breathed in, a loud inhale before continuing. “So, Mr Kim, about breakfast…”

“Ugh, fine.” Sunggyu groaned, this time he made it audible to the other man’s ears. He did not care anymore. “I’ll go get ready. Why not you call Woohyun and tell him to get ready too? I’ll be down by the lobby in thirty minutes.”

“Already done that.”

“Of course.” _Who am I kidding._

 

Sunggyu was running out of games, battery and patience.

At first, Sunggyu thought he was the one running late. It took him more than thirty minutes to get ready, because the heater been a dick to him. The water did not heat up. Sunggyu had to call for room service to fix it and it took quite some time to finish. He could not go down without showering because Dongwoo literally drooled all over him. He felt stinky and grossed out by his own body smell. When he finally gotten out of shower, he had to dry his hair properly and not to forget, apply some base concealer.

Sunggyu took extra twenty minutes to reach hotel’s lobby and (surprise, surprise) Woohyun was not there.

Since he was also late, Sunggyu decided not to jump into conclusion just yet. There was possibility that Woohyun already came down, could not find him, irritated as he waited and decided to return to his room. Thus, Sunggyu approached the receptionist to ask whether they saw his _boyfriend_ or not. Apparently, these people had no idea who he was talking about (because accept it, they were in Mexico City and not South Korea) so he asked them to call the room instead.

It was Treble’s too tall to his liking rapper who answered the phone. Woohyun was still sleeping.

According to Sungyeol, Mr Joon did give Woohyun wakeup call earlier. He was not sure about the details of their conversation but his leader did not seem happy with it. Woohyun groaned when the call ended and turned off his phone right after. Since Sungyeol had no idea what was happening or what supposed to happen, he let his leader return to sleep (because, quoting Sungyeol, ‘a _grumpy sleepy Woohyun is more terrifying than a fire breathing dragon_ ’).

It was a real effort not to scream into the phone. Sunggyu could feel fumes coming out from his ears. This brat was too much.

That was the behind story that led Sunggyu into this grumpiness. Since the past forty-five minutes after the call, he had been jamming his fingers onto his phone’s screen, killing the ogres to appease his own anger, which was somewhat futile because Sunggyu was very, very angry. No ogres could calm him down.

His phone popped out 10% battery remaining warning when the lift door parted open and revealed a tight-faced Woohyun. The younger did not seem happy with their morning plan either. _Cool_. Now, he had to deal with this grumpy man alone. _Oh, joy_.

“It must have been nice to sleep while I am down here for almost two hours waiting for you, right.” Woohyun quirked an eyebrow at him almost challengingly, his eyes ran up and down the older man’s body as if he was judging him. Sunggyu gasped from that kind of respond and returned the same gesture. His lips twitched in annoyance but he did take a sweet time to study the younger’s appearance.

Despite his cranky face, Woohyun looked soft with oversized pink sweater, stone washed blue jeans and white black-striped Nike sneakers. His hands shoved into the sweater’s pockets while his hoodie pulled down to hide his hair up to the fringe. A white half-face mask hung loosely onto his right ear. There were heavy bags beneath his eyes. The sight made him wonder whether they were from lack of sleep or did the younger was crying.

After their _relationship_ officialised, both of them and their groups received massive attention from the entire nation. Especially Woohyun. On the day their photos leaked, Woohyun’s name trended on various social media sites and search engines. The responds were not all beautiful and pleasing to the eyes or heart. Being so long in the industry, Sunggyu knew better than to let the bad comments affect him. However, Woohyun was still new. He might still not used of such thing yet. It got to him too when he first started.

He would not surprise if Woohyun spent his nights crying to sleep (because yeah, well, back then, Sunggyu did too).

Two weeks passed since that particular morning of the photo leak but neither the media nor fans had calmed down. Being in their usual nosey nature, the paparazzi and netizens kept digging and digging, pulling out juicy news and facts that were not even relevant to the topic, but made them big anyway. Once, he came across photos of Woohyun’s old dates, past girlfriends and his life as high school student on Twitter. Woohyun’s former idol life days were now laid on the surface, bare for the public to see and judge.

A couple of days ago, a new discussion topic popped up on Naver. It spread across other social media platforms and eventually, reached the official news outlets. The fans discussed about the possibilities of Woohyun’s company using Sunggyu’s popularity to bring more audience to Treble, that this relationship was fake and non-existent. The worst part of it was that they were so damn right.

He could only imagine how much it hurt Woohyun to read those negative comments about him. They openly called him pretender, opportunist and parasite. He thought of stepping forward to defend the younger, to ask them stop talking badly about him because for God’s sake, Woohyun had feelings too.

But that was for later. For now, this brat had to deal with his wrath first.

“Not even a sorry?”

“I’m not in the mood for this.”

“Not in the mood, I see.” The rookie rolled eyes at him and strode over toward the hotel’s entrance. It caught him off guard. He totally did not expect him to walk off in the middle of a talk. “So disrespectful,” Sunggyu snorted and followed him.

As they were nearing the main door, Sunggyu noticed a crowd of people armed with microphones and cameras, just two feet in radius from the entrance. He still could not get his head around the fact that even foreign press was interested in their relationship. It was understandable if they were in South Korea, where half of the news was about idol’s life. But here…

Sunggyu also noticed the tight face Woohyun currently had and could already imagine tomorrow’s headline if he let the younger leave the building like that. He rushed forward to grab the man’s arm and stopped him from walking. Woohyun turned around with a hiss and frown; lips pressed together, annoyance obvious on his face.

“You cannot walk out there with that face.”

“What face?”

“ _That_ face.” He gestured the whole of Woohyun’s face, making his frown bigger. “If they saw you looking like this, frowning and in bad mood and going out with me but walked one meter ahead, they are going to speculate that we are having a big fight and I can already foresee what they are going to write about you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Woohyun crossed arms on top of his chest. “And why would you care? It’s about me and not you. Besides, it’s not like they ever write good things about me. The press, the public, everyone already put all the blame on me. I am the bad person. Another bad headline about me is not going to change anything.”

Sunggyu groaned. What was he thinking when he agreed to help this ungrateful brat? All the hassle since the past weeks was for Treble’s sake. He gained nothing from it. Not enough with that, Mr Joon forced him into babysitting this overgrown hot headed rookie. It seemed like it was him alone who bothered to endorse their ‘happy couple’ title properly while Woohyun did not give a damn at all.

“You, listen here…” Sunggyu spoke in a hushed voice. He schooled his expression so his anger and irritation would not show because there were possibilities that they were being recorded at the moment. “You, your CEO and your stupid Managing Director dragged me into this mess. I am risking my career and reputation now to help yours. So, it’ll be great if you could put some effort into this too or I am not going to hesitate to walk out of this and leave you alone to deal with our ‘ _break up_ ’. Remember your place. Remember that if there were no me walking along with you in this pretence, they would have thrown you into drains long ago. So, please, stop acting like a ten-year old and grow up.”

Sunggyu’s chest was heaving up and down rapidly when he finished. He was at his limit from being pushed around for someone else’s sake and not being thanked for it. He knew he was being overboard. It was not Woohyun’s fault to begin with. They would not have this conversation if Mr Joon did not force the morning plan onto their noses. But he was so fuelled with anger and Woohyun was the victim.

Woohyun _always_ became the victim.

Moments passed without any word exchanged between them. Sunggyu lifted his head up in curiosity because Woohyun was awfully quiet (the rookie seemed to always have something to comeback). It surprised him to find a trail of tears down the younger male’s eyes to his jaw. Woohyun cleared his throat and quickly wiped it away then shook his head. He lowered his hood to cover the upper half of his face and put on his mask to cover the lower half.

“I understand. W-we better… we should get going now.”

Sunggyu felt as if he was stabbed right into the chest. He was being too much. He said something he should not to the poor boy. He hurt him.

His heart clenched at the thought and for some reason, he felt like crying too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter 3 already published on [aff](https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1323841)


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